Heyo, Nik here, delivering this week's 4 Minute Read, despite some covid-induced delays (my 3rd time). Stay healthy for the holidays! Here's what I've got for you this week:
At age 10, Matt Higgins started working for $5/hour so he could support his overweight, ailing mother. He lived in a tiny, rent-controlled apartment in Queens, New York, with her and his 3 brothers. The brothers all left in their teenage years, and so, at 16 years old, Higgins dropped out of high school — not to go work, but to go to college 2 years earlier. He aced his GED and enrolled at Queens University. Eventually, he would go on to become NYC's youngest press secretary, the COO of the Ground Zero rebuilding efforts, and the Vice Chairman of the Miami Dolphins — oh, and a guest investor on Shark Tank, of course. The #1 strategy he used to build such an illustrious career out of nothing? Burn the Boats. Forget Plan B, and go full throttle on your true dream. In his book of the same name, he explains how you can do just that. If you're tired of hedging and want to make your dreams come true, read this summary.
If you're bad at grammar, a panda might be your worst nightmare of a customer in your saloon: After all, instead of just eating his shoots and leaves like usual, he might eat, shoot, and leave!
At least, that's what he does in Lynne Truss's humorous but extremely educational guide to better punctuation and thus grammar. With a few simple but poignant tips, the book will up your written communication game in no time.
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Bernard Roth is an engineer and professor at Stanford, where he cofounded the university's design school 20 years ago. Famous for an approach called "design thinking," he will teach you how to use this system to get things done not just at work but also in your life. The Achievement Habit is an interesting classic with a unique spin. If you want to make success a habit, read this summary.
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